Melbourne insist Matt Orford (quadriceps) is unlikely to be the man to take the place of car crash victim Marty Turner for tomorrow's Olympic Park tussle with the Bulldogs. Brisbane Norths utility Cameron Smith is the favourite to take over at halfback, with hooker Richard Swain also under consideration.");document.write("

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Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes says there are no doubts over skipper Steve Price (wrist) and centre Willie Talau (knee), who missed last week's win over South Sydney.

Price passed a fitness test on Wednesday and Talau "ran pretty strongly early in the week, so there was no big deal", Folkes said.

Lance Thompson's comeback from a thigh injury for St George Illawarra against Parramatta at WIN Stadium on Sunday has been called off. Luke Felsch is expected to start, leaving the regulation four players on the bench.

Parramatta coach Brian Smith has given his 20-man first-grade squad a clean bill of health - but won't be announcing his final 17 until later. "Michael Vella [back] was the main one we were concerned about; he's done everything this week," Smith said. "Barring some sort of mishap between now and Sunday, he'll be playing."

Fullback Wade McKinnon (hamstring) won't be playing for South Sydney against North Queensland at Dairy Farmers Stadium tomorrow night.

Andrew King is the new custodian, with Andrew Hinson coming into the centres. North Queensland lost skipper John Buttigieg last night to an abdominal injury. No replacement was named, although Tim Maddison would be a possibility, with Grant Reibel on the bench.

The Warriors have doubts over lock Kevin Campion (hamstring) and reserve forward Justin Morgan (nose) ahead of Sunday's Ericsson Stadium match against the Northern Eagles. "Kevin's strained his hamstring at training [and] is the long shot," coach Daniel Anderson said.

Northern Eagles coach Peter Sharp changed his mind about his travelling emergency this week - and then changed it back. The Eagles said yesterday the son of Manly icon Terry Randall, Chad, would not be travelling to Auckland, with first-division winger Matt Hill taking his place.

Jamaal Lolesi will be the man omitted from Canberra's bench for tomorrow night's game against Brisbane at Canberra Stadium. Prop Petero Civoniceva (ankle) trained well for Brisbane this week and is certain to play. Coach Wayne Bennett will trim his five-man bench tonight.

Wests Tigers interchange player Corey Pearson (lower back) has been given until tomorrow to prove his fitness for the following day's Toyota Park encounter with the Sharks. If he is cleared, Chris Paterson will drop off the five-man bench.

For the unchanged Sharks outfit, centre Paul Mellor will be playing his 150th first-grade game